[close] A comical cast of outlandish characters has gathered in the small English town of Crome for a social outing at the estate of Henry Wimbush. Among the odd, learned guests are a highly prolific writer, an idealist with plans for a "Rational State" & a sensitive poet haplessly in love with Wimbush's niece.
The Crome of the title is an English Country House in which most of the action occurs. Huxley's first novel, Crome Yellow, was published in 1921, &, as a comedy of manners & ideas, its relatively realistic setting & format may come as a surprise to fans of his later works.</I> Some who know only Brave New World may not know that as a 16-year-old planning to enter medicine, he was stricken by a serious eye disease which left him temporarily blind, & which derailed what certainly would have been a prominent career as a physician or scientist. Crome Yellow has often been called "witty," as well as "talky," & it certainly owes as much to Vanity Fair as it may, surprisingly to some, owe to Tristram Shandy, altho one might think that characters such as Mr. Barbecue-Smith & his remarkable writing theories could have some literary antecedents in Lawrence Sterne. Denis Smith, the protagonist of Crome Yellow, attempts to cross wits with the denizens of Crome, particularly Mr. & Mrs. Winbush & the remarkable Mr. Barbecue-Smith--in pursuit of a star-crossed love, & in the face of another girl who possibly loves him.